Sanza Named Player of the Week

Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse keeper, Lidia Sanza, was named the WomensLacrosse.com Division III Defensive Player of the Week following her stellar performance in the Centennial Conference (CC) championship tournament.

Sanza helped the Diplomats to their fourth-consecutive Centennial title, notching the tournament's first-ever shut out in the semifinal game. She then took down top-seeded Gettysburg in the championship final in overtime. In the semi against Ursinus, the senior keeper made four saves and picked up two ground balls as she kept the Bears off the scoreboard.

In the final, Sanza made a save with 1:30 in regulation and two saves in overtime to preserve the win. She also recorded six ground balls and three interceptions in the win. The WomensLacrosse.com Defensive Player of the Week honor is the second POTW honor for Sanza. She was also named the CC Defensive POTW.

Sanza was named a WomensLacrosse.com Player of the Week on April 6 and April 20 during the 2009 season. In 2007, she was a WomensLacrosse.com First Team All-American, Goalkeeper of the Year, and Rookie of the Year.

Sanza's teammate, Meredith Lussier, was named the Centennial's Offensive Player of the Week. The junior attack scored five goals and assisted on five more during the Centennial Championship tournament. She scored the game-winning goal in the semifinal win over Ursinus, and factored in all four goals of the game-tying run late in the second half to force overtime in the championship game. Lussier assisted the first three goals and then scored the equalizer on her own.

Sanza and Lussier were both named to the All-Centennial team this week as well. Sanza was a first team choice, while Lussier landed second team honors.

Sanza also shared the Michael T. Karvasales Award with high school and college teammate, Blake Hargest. The Karvasales Award is given to the senior athlete(s) with cumulative outstanding athletic and academic achievements over a four-year period. The pair pair sharing the award marked the first time in the history of the prize that the vote was tied and the award shared.

By virtue of the win over Gettysburg in the conference championship game, F&M is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA postseason field for the fifth consecutive season and 13th overall. F&M has played in the NCAA Division III National Championship game in each of the past three years, winning the 2007 and 2009 NCAA Championships. The Diplomats will learn their playoff fate this Sunday evening.